A large proportion of the UK had milk delivered by electric vehicles 'milk floats' when I was a child in the 1980s...
<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_float" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_float</a>
DPD have plenty of Nissan NV200 electric vans doing the rounds. They make a lot of sense and not a lot of noise. These are the right vehicles for dropping off Amazon orders and other online purchases, even in hilly areas.<p>London has a lot of businesses sending stuff out and getting stuff in. Some are close to the M25 where pallets are the order of the day. Normally this needs something bigger than a Nissan van - a big lorry. Seems that DPD have the right tool for the job. I don't blame them for grumbling, routes near to their depots on the M25 need vehicles where you can pick up several pallets of small parcels from many warehouses. This far they have not been able to do that the EV way.
> the world's first purpose-built full-electric large commercial vehicle<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StreetScooter" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StreetScooter</a><p>Probably not technically a Large Commercial Vehicle, but a couple other ones do come to mind.
>> Volta Zero was specifically designed to deliver parcels and freight in inner city locations<p>Really? Setting aside the switch to electric motors, the thing is huge. The cab looks like the first 1/4 of a bus and it is 10-feet wide. Good luck with that on in the back alleys of London. How exactly is this designed for urban "parcel" delivery? It looks like any other flatbed meant only for work only at loading docks.
What exactly are they claiming is 'world first'? There are already examples of previous electric delivery trucks in this thread. I will add one that I don't see listed - the Navistar International eStar - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navistar_International#eStar_electric_van" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navistar_International#eStar_e...</a>
"early next year" : or maybe another year later, or never.<p>Or someone beats them to it, making it not 'world first'.<p>Great PR ( submarine ) though.
also <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/29/waitrose-john-lewis-introduce-electric-home-delivery-vans-13052452/" rel="nofollow">https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/29/waitrose-john-lewis-introduce...</a>